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Mrs. Obama and Fallon did pushups and twirled hula hoops. They competed at dodge ball and tug-of-war. And the first lady triumphed over the comedian in a climactic potato sack race.

After a defeated Fallon said, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost,” the first lady replied, “It matters.”

The segment was taped last month and aired early Wednesday on NBC’s “Late Night” program.

Mrs. Obama has been making the talk-show rounds to celebrate the second anniversary of her campaign against childhood obesity. In the past few weeks she has appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Rachael Ray.”

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The first lady hit up The Tonight Show with Jay Leno about how to cope with raising kids in the White House and being married to the President. She also talked about the Prez’s singing. Funny!

She even got Jay to eat healthy LOL!

Leno once told a magazine he hadn’t eaten a vegetable since 1969, and he insisted he tasted his last apple in 1984. That didn’t dissuade the first lady, who’s promoting her “Let’s Move!” campaign to get kids excited about fitness and healthy eating habits.

Earlier, Obama poked fun at him in a Twitter post, hinting she’d “get Jay to eat some veggies” on the NBC show.

Blackmediascoop.com

‘He does have a beautiful voice, and he sings to me all the time,’ Michelle Obama told ‘The Tonight Show’ host Jay Leno.

The president showed off his skills recently when he sang a bar of an Al Green song during a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

The First Lady dazzled in her high waisted mint green J. Crew skirt, a gold-flecked sweater and a pair of low, pointed-toe heels for  her TV appearance.

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On an episode of her “Both Sides Now With Huffington and Matalin” radio program, multimillionaire Arianna Huffington decided to take the First Lady to task for not being Black enough. Of course, she didn’t say, “Black enough,” she just said that Michelle Obama should be more like former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and visit “South Central.”

Huffington, whom I agree with on most matters, stated that the First Lady should avoid lavish fundr-aisers in swanky L.A. neighborhoods and focus more on demonstrating her compassion for people’s suffering:

“I’d love [Michelle] to be more [like] Eleanor Roosevelt right now, because the country needs an Eleanor Roosevelt who’s going to go around and at the same time that she’s doing fund-raisers in Beverly Hills and Bel Air … she should go to South Central [Los Angeles], I mean, if I were Michelle Obama right now, I would not go anywhere for a fund-raiser without going and seeing the places where there is pain, where there is struggle, where there is homelessness, where there is unemployment, because we need to bring that conversation to the center of the debate and there’s nothing like a first lady or … a candidate to take us there.”

Dear Arianna:

You can take your elitist criticism of Michelle Obama and shove it into a tall pile of money.

First of all, that area hasn’t been called “South Central” since 2003; it is now South Los Angeles. If that wasn’t the first clue that you have no idea what you’re talking about, what exactly would you have her do in “South Central” — get shot nine times like 50 Cent so she can have some street cred?

I agree that when the Obamas come to Los Angeles (besides wreaking havoc on the 405 freeway), the president is either speaking at a university, meeting with the Latino community or hob-nobbing in Hollywood. There definitely needs to be more of a focus on providing comprehensive outreach to the poor among us, but suggesting that the First Lady of the United States stroll through an urban war zone just so she can prove how “down” she is with the plight of suffering, unemployed, Black and Brown people, is about as insulting as Rick Santorum saying that it’s “remarkable” that Obama is pro-choice, considering that he’s Black.

Now that I’ve entertained your stereo-typical insinuations about “South Central,” let’s talk about reality. When was the last time you visited South Los Angeles, Ms. Huffington? Are you relying on clips of “Boyz in the Hood” and “Menace II Society” for your information, or have you driven through Compton and Inglewood and seen the neighborhoods for yourself?

Do you even know the ethnic make-up of South Central or are you still operating under the presumption that it’s over-run with poor,”suffering” African Americans? You do realize that it’s nearly half Belizean, Hispanic, and Latino, right? You do realize that there are thriving African businesses in Leimert Park, right? You wouldn’t just be throwing out the the most destitute, “ghetto,” Black place you could think of for our first Black First Lady to visit, would you? You didn’t open your mouth before familiarizing yourself with the affluent African-American neighborhoods of Baldwin Hills and Ladera Heights, did you?

I know you meant well, Ms. Huffington … or did you?

Because on second thought, it seems that you’re perpetuating the myth that the First Lady is an “uppity” Black woman who wouldn’t understand poverty if it smacked her in the face with a food stamp. With your statement, you join the exclusive club of people who brush over her hard-knock life, where her only riches were found in her family. You negate her work to eradicate obesity among children, specifically African-American children — obesity often being a symptom of poverty. You dismiss her efforts to attract grocery stores that sell fresh food to impoverished neighborhoods; you discount her push to provide tax-breaks to breastfeeding mothers — which, surprisingly [please, note sarcasm] is an issue facing many women in poverty who can’t afford to stay home to nurse their children.

But I guess those initiatives aren’t “Black enough” for you?  You’d rather passively endorse the Marie Antoinette drawing, Hawaii vacation-envying crowd who would prefer that a Harvard-educated attorney and Mother of two “visit” the hoods of “South Central” to prove how much she cares about Black unemployed people. That would be the equivalent of critics telling you that if you really care about your native Greece, then when you dined there with the Greek prime minister George Papandreou, you should have stopped in the hood — if you really care.

See how insulting and narrow-minded that is?

As the mastermind behind the merger of Huffington Post and AOL Black Voices and a keynote speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists, Ms. Huffington, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourselves with the many voices in the African-American community — and they aren’t just poor and suffering in South Central; nor, do many of us prefer a symbolic, executive drive through the hood to the necessary work that the First Lady is actually doing in those communities.

Michelle Obama is more than doing her part. If you must criticize anyone, then reserve that for the Commander-in-Chief, who is so afraid that conservatives will catch him uttering the word “poverty,” that he wouldn’t order “Colors“ on Netflix.

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1. Her nickname is “Miche” (pronounced “Meesh”).

2. Her husband calls her “My Rock”

3. Her father worked the swing shift in the boiler room at Chicago’s water purification plant.

4. She grew up with her older brother, Craig, and parents in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. She shared the living room with her brother, which was separated by a room divider.

5. She and her brother both skipped a year at school – second grade.

6. As a girl, she loved her “Easy-Bake Oven”.

7. Michelle was student council treasurer in high school.

8. Growing up, she practiced playing the piano so much that she had to be told to stop.

9. Although a great athlete, she shied away from competitive sports because, her big brother says, “she hated losing”.

10. Her father died of complications from multiple sclerosis when she was in her 20s.

11. Michelle attended only public schools while growing up in Chicago.

12. She was assigned Barack’s mentor when he came to her Chicago firm for a summer job.

13. Her first impression of Barack wasn’t great; after seeing a photo of him in the law firm directory she decided he had a big nose.

14. She declined Barack’s first invitations to go out on a date, saying it would be inappropriate.

15. Her father and brother had always said you could tell a lot about someone’s character on the court, so before agreeing to date Barack, she asked her brother to take him on on the basketball court.

16. Her university dissertation was entitled, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.”

17. Santita Jackson, Jesse Jackson’s daughter and Michelle’s high school classmate, sang at the wedding

18. She works out “like a gladiator,” according to friends.

19. She hates tights – too “painful.”

20. At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, moments before her husband went on stage to give his speech, she said: “Just don’t screw it up, buddy!”

SEE THE REST OF THE LIST BELOW THE GALLERY

21. She watches reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show

22. For breakfast she likes fruit, eggs and bacon.

23. When she got to Princeton she said the tutors weren’t teaching French correctly.

24. She refused to accompany her husband for walks in the cold Chicago winters.

25. She is the former associate dean at the University of Chicago

26. On their first date Barack took her to see Do The Right Thing, a Spike Lee movie set in Harlem.

27. Her brother, Craig Robinson, is the basketball coach at Oregon State University.

28. At Princeton, Michelle majored in sociology. She got her law degree from Harvard.

29. She worked for Chicago’s Mayor Daley in the city’s office of planning and development.

30. She uses a webcam to stay in touch with Barack while separated.

31. She cooks shrimp linguini – her husband’s favorite meal.

32. Michelle wrote her own stump speech during the campaign and delivered it without notes.

33. Michelle made Barack promise to quit smoking if he ran for president.

34. She plans not to have any more children.

35. She graduated from high school second in her class.

36. She cut back from her six-figure salary with the University of Chicago hospital system to help her husband with his campaign

37. Michelle makes Barack do the dishes.

38. As vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Centre, Michelle supervised a five hundred per cent increase of volunteerism in the hospital.

39. She was on the board of six major organizations, including the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and Tree House Foods; and Vice President, Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

40. She routinely drew audiences of 1,000-plus supporters, even when she was campaigning on her own, on the trail

41. Her inauguration dress was designed by Cuban-American designer, Isabel Toledo. Her green gloves were J Crew and her shoes by Jimmy Choo.

42. After her husband’s election to the US Senate, Michelle decided to stay in Chicago with their daughters instead of relocating to Washington, DC.

43. Her great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave in South Carolina before the Civil War.

44. Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama are the only First Ladies to receive master’s degrees.

45. She has committed each episode of The Brady Bunch to memory.

46. At 5 ft 11″, she is tied with Eleanor Roosevelt for tallest First Lady.

47.Her secret service codename is “Renaissance”.

48. Mrs. Obama shares her special day with Muhammad Ali who turns 70 today.

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1) She is a great Mother. It is evident that Mrs. Obama is a hands-on Mom to daughters Malia and Sasha.  Responsible parenting is her credo, and despite a grueling schedule, the mom-in-chief is a devoted nurturer who is intent on keeping her children grounded.

2) She is a dedicated wife. Mrs. Obama has been very vocal about the fact that she thinks her husband, Barack, is a wonderful partner, husband, and father, “We’re each other’s best friends and closest advisors,” she said during an interview with Babble.com.

The First Lady seems to be her husband’s biggest supporter and often speaks out about what she thinks he brings to this country.  The Obamas are openly affectionate toward each other and present a powerful example of what a modern-day partnership between equals looks like.

3) She loves and respects animals. After being contacted by the New York Post on whether or not she wears fur, Press Secretary Semonti Mustaphi responded:

Mrs. Obama does not wear fur.

So in PETA’s eyes, she looks pretty darn fabulous.

4) She champions healthy eating for children. Mrs. Obama launched the “Let’s Move!” healthful eating campaign to help fight childhood obesity.  At its core, the initiative has four pillars:

• increased awareness about nutrition
• more physical activity
• easier access to healthier foods
• personal responsibility

The campaign is not a war on fast foods, but about getting the nation’s kids on a fast track to good health, which leads to increased self-esteem.

5) She is a fashion icon. Mrs. Obama is a mix-and-match master, and while she loves designer duds, she isn’t afraid to pair them with budget-friendly finds from stores like the Gap or J. Crew.

6) She is very intelligent. A product of Chicago public schools, Mrs. Obama studied Sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband.  She is only one of three first ladies to have received a Master’s degree (the other two are Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton).

7) She admits to food vices. While Mrs. Obama has admitted that she loves hot wings, French fries, and bacon, she eats them in moderation and presents realistic ways of managing unhealthy food, making her all the more lovable!

She can dance! As part of her “Let’s Move!” campaign in a a D.C. public school last May, Mrs. Obama demonstrated that she can do the Dougie and the Running Man.

9) She smells good. The First Lady is smitten with Creed’s Love in White, which is a crisp mix of orange blossom and citrus notes.

10) She has fabulous arms. We all have arm envy of Mrs. Obama’s first guns, nicknamed “Thunder and Lightening.”  Her arms are buff and she’s not afraid to show ‘em!

11) She hates pantyhose. And so do 99.99 percent of women! Mrs. Obama finds the restrictive,  male-invented legwear “painful!”

12) She works out like a fiend. Mrs. Obama loves to exercise, and it shows.  The First Lady keeps her hot bod fit by changing up her exercise routine, hitting the treadmill, lifting weights, jumping rope, kickboxing, and taking pilates. One of her favorite artists to sweat to is Beyonce.

13) She is a good daughter. When the Obamas moved into the White House, the First Lady’s mom, Marian Robinson, was in tow.  Mrs. Robinson has been described as the bedrock of the Obama family. After he was elected president,  Obama said on “60 Minutes,” “She’s just been an unbelievable support for all of us during this process.” The love among mother, daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids is oh-so-evident.

14)  She supports military families. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched a national initiative to support and honor America’s service members and their families. “Joining Forces” was created to address the unique challenges and needs of military families. The initiative focuses on key priority areas (employment, education, and wellness), while working to raise awareness about the lives of military families.

14) She is not an ice princess. Mrs. Obama actually shows emotion and isn’t afraid to laugh, cry, dance, or sing in public.

15) She is beautiful. Named as one of People Magazines “World’s Most Beautiful People 2009,” Mrs. Obama has both outer and inner beauty.  The First Lady credits her father and brother for giving her high self-esteem, making her the confident woman she is today.

16) She is a good cook. When Mrs. Obama has time to get down in the kitchen, she admits that she can “burn a pot.”  Mrs. Obama’s shrimp linguine is one of her husband’s fave dishes.

17) She loves to shop at Target. Even though being a First Lady makes things difficult, Mrs. Obama loves shopping at Target.  It’s nice to know that Mrs. Obama, like the rest of us, wants to “expect more and pay less.”

18) She has nice hair. No clips, weaves or wigs, the First Lady’s do is always polished, always stylish and is all truly hers.

19) She is a good sister. Mrs. Obama and her brother Craig, who is 16 months older, were often mistaken for twins growing up.  The pair are so close that the First Lady even followed her brother to Princeton University.  She often refers to her brother as her best friend.

20) She loves healthy food. Mrs. Obama has supported the organic food movement, instructing the White House kitchens to prepare organic food for guests and her family.  In 2009, Michelle worked with 23 fifth graders from a local school in Washington, D.C., to plant a 1,100-square-foot garden of fresh vegetables and install bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House.

21) She is a role model. Always poised and well-spoken, Mrs. Obama exudes a confidence and grace that is exemplary for young girls everywhere.

22) She is a friend in our heads. Mrs. Obama is like a sisterfriend: She seems like the kind of friend who could bring you out of your deepest funk with her indefatigable smile and words of wisdom.

23) She supports the arts. The First Lady has often said that it is through music, literature, art, drama, and dance that we tell the story of our past and we express our hopes for the future.

24) She loves to read. Whenever Mrs. Obama picks up a book, it generates tons of buzz.  She loves reading books to not only her own children but has to countless students as well.

25) She has a nickname. The Robinson family call her “Miche,” and her husband refers to her as “my rock.”

26) She is outspoken. In addition to some of the memorable things she said on the campaign trail, she told her teachers when she got to Princeton that they weren’t teaching French correctly.

27) She has a favorite TV show. Mrs. Obama likes to kick back by watching reruns of 1960′s comedy “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” (And so do I!)

28) She knows what it’s like to lose a loved one. Mrs. Obama’s dad died from complications of  multiple sclerosis when she was in her 20s.

29) She likes all kinds of music. The First Lady’s personal playlist includes cuts like “No Diggety,” by BlackStreet; “Poison,” by Bel Biv DeVoe; and songs by Guns N’ Roses and rapper Eminem.

30) She loves Sudoku. The psychological appeal of the puzzle game has gained popularity over the years.

31) She keeps it real. The First Lady has shared some personal stuff with the public about her hubby, like his smelly socks and how he forgets to put the butter away.

32) She can think on her feet. During the election campaign, the First Lady wrote her own speeches and spoke without using notes.

33) She calls it as she sees it. When Mrs. Obama first met her husband, she thought he had a big nose.

34) She keeps connected to her husband. Mrs. Obama and the President are in constant communication even when he’s away.  To keep in touch, they use a webcam.

35) She puts her husband to work.  Mrs. Obama can still make her husband do the dishes whenever she cooks.

36) She has a familiar lineage. Jim Robinson, the First Lady’s great-great grandfather, was a slave in South Carolina before the Civil War.

37) She is anti-smoking. President Obama was a smoker, and after years of pressure from the First Lady, he finally quit the habit nearly a year ago.  The President had been a smoker for 30 years.

38) She is a mover and shaker. Before she became the First Lady, Mrs. Obama was on the board of six major organizations, including the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and Tree House Foods. She was also vice president of Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

39) She is an ambassador of goodwill. Last year, Mrs. Obama made official trips to Africa, India, Latin America, and the U.K., showing her talent as a goodwill ambassador and spokesperson for the less fortunate.

40) She is popular. More popular than her husband, Mrs. Obama’s approval ratings hover near 70 percent while President Obama’s ratings are less than 40 percent.

41) She is a feminist. Mrs. Obama seems to embody the notion at the center of feminism: women can be both intelligent and powerful.

42) She is into Twitter. Since joining Twitter on January 12, the First Lady has occasionally tweeted as herself with posts signed “mo.”

42) She loves jumping double Dutch.  We all watched Mrs. Obama on the news last September jumping  double Dutch with D.C.-area kids on the White House south lawn.  She said it made her happy.

First Lady Michelle Obama Worldwide Day of Play Spot from Jessica Wilson on Vimeo.
43) She likes dark chocolate. What are her favorite sinful treats?  The Seattle-based Fran’s Chocolates is her weakness.

44) She is a good baker. The First Lady runs the White house like a home and still finds the time to bake.  Mrs. Obama loves her Apple Cobbler recipe.

45) She is a cool Mom who lets 13-year-old Malia use makeup. Before she allowed her oldest daughter to apply makeup, Mrs. Obama talked through the grown-up move with her.

46) She has zero-tolerance for bullying. The First Lady works to dispel the myth that bullying is a normal rite of passage for kids.

47) She loves America. Mrs. Obama loves the United States and the opportunities it has given her, such as living the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech.
48) She loves her job as First Lady. Mrs. Obama loves her job, loves people and likes having a positive impact on America.  She is eagerly awaiting a possible second term in the White House and feels there is still much work to do:

We’ve really just begun to lay the foundation,” Mrs. Obama told ABC News.

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A screaming, raucous auditorium filled with elementary and middle school students greeted Obama and the cast of the Nickelodeon TV show “iCarly” at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County.

The appearance promoted an upcoming episode featuring Obama in which she thanks military families for their sacrifices. On the show, star Miranda Cosgrove plays the daughter of an Air Force colonel deployed overseas.

A staple of the show is a segment of random dancing, which Obama performed both in the episode that premieres Monday and on stage Friday.

Obama’s dance moves drew plaudits from the “iCarly” cast.

“I think she showed everybody up in the dance department,” said Jennette McCurdy, who plays Samantha on the show.

The onstage dance session Friday lasted only a minute or so, far less than the extended dance session Obama did last year when visiting Deal Middle School in the District, when she joined students doing “the Dougie” and “The Running Man” in a clip that has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.

Her acting skills also drew praise. The cast was impressed with Obama’s ability to deliver her lines in the compressed time they had to shoot the scenes.

“She has good comic timing in real life, too,” Cosgrove said.

Obama said she watches the show with her daughters, and wanted to appear because it dovetails with her campaign to support and recognize military families. Last year, Obama went to northern Virginia to deliver the commencement address at the high school on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Hayfield, few miles south of the Pentagon, was chosen in part because it is home to large numbers of military children.

During a question-and-answer session with students, Obama drew a handful of playful boos when she was asked about school lunches and talked about legislation she and her husband supported to add more vegetables to the school lunch program.

Taking note of the reaction, she said, “But this is for you all. … It’s hard to do what you do if you’re not healthy.”

She concluded with a simple admonition: “Eat your vegetables.”

She also handled other student questions:

- Asked what super power she wished she could have, she said, “You know what? I’ve always wanted to fly. When I was young, I used to always have dreams about flying.”

-Her favorite room in the White House? The Yellow Oval Room, which opens up to the Truman balcony. “It’s one of the few places the president can walk outside and be by himself,” she said.

-Her favorite TV shows? Besides “iCarly,” Mrs. Obama said, “we watch all kinds of things. We try not to have too much TV time during the week, though.”

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In the clip below, Miranda Cosgrove’s Carly and her pals are given a verbal pat on the back by the first lady, who tells them she’s proud of the way they set up a webcast to celebrate the birthday of Carly’s dad, an Air Force colonel, when he couldn’t make it home.

She also finds time for a little “random dancing”:

The first lady will appear in the January 16 episode as part of her Joining Forces initiative that supports military families.

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“I’ve been doing the show for a long time and I usually don’t get nervous, but having the first lady on the set, I was really nervous,” laughed Cosgrove, 18, in an interview Wednesday.

Nickelodeon and the White House want to show support for U.S. military families with a cameo by the first lady on the show.

On “iCarly,” Cosgrove plays Carly Shay, the daughter of an Air Force colonel who is serving overseas.

In an episode titled, “iMeet the First Lady,” Carly gets upset when her father’s return from active duty is canceled because he is deployed again. Her friends decide to surprise her with a live feed to her father during an iCarly webcast. After Mrs. Obama sees the webcast, she praises Carly for being such a supportive daughter to a father who is serving his country.

Cosgrove said that despite being nervous about meeting Mrs. Obama, she found her quite approachable, calling the first lady a “nice, pretty normal person” who even danced with the cast during a regular segment called “Random Dancing.”

“It was probably the most fun thing we did. We all just got to let loose and have a good time,” Cosgrove said.

To promote the show, cast members will appear at four screening events for military families. The screenings will be held in Miramar, Calif., on Jan. 9; Groton, Conn., on Jan. 11; Fort Dix, N.J., on Jan. 12; and Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 13.

Cosgrove said the goal is to “let (military) kids know how important their parents are.”

The episode of “iCarly” featuring the first lady will air Jan. 16 on Nickelodeon at 7:30 p.m. EST.

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